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Monday 16 January 2017

Zhou Youguang, Dies Aged 111

Hello Gentle Reader

The father of the Pinyin—a Romanized version of Chinese; Zhou Youguang has died in Beijing on January 14th at the age of 111. Pinyin was adopted in China sixty years ago. The new form of writing however was not a destruction of the previously ancient language, but rather a new way of exploring and becoming acquainted with the language, and its tens of thousands of characters. The revolutionary language enhancement has increased literacy in China since its adoption, assisted students in learning the language, and has now helped the blind read the language in braille. Recent development however, has seen the language now capable of reaching technological mediums, with the characters appearing on keyboards and cell phones. Its thanks in large part to Pinyin that the Mandarin language was simplified to changing and redeveloping how the language interacted on a global stage. In large part Beijing owes its name to Pinyin, from its original Peking; as well as the infamous communist leader and Dictator Mao Zedong from his original (or traditional) name: Mao Tse-tung. The system would later be adopted by the International Organization for Standardization and the United Nations. Despite this achievement, Zhou Youguang is not a person celebrated in China, for of course political reasons. Zhou Youguang was the oldest political dissident of China, often criticizing the communist regime, but as his life continued, he was struck with the unique ability of invincibility of age and with it a loose tongue to let loose his opinions and views of the situation in China. When asked about concerns about retaliation from the Chinese communist government in 2012, Zhou Youguang remarked: “what are they going to do? Come and take me away?”

Despite his great accomplishment of creating Pinyin, Zhou Youguang was not a linguist by training. Rather he was a economist, who had a deep love and interest in linguistics, the Mandarin language, and lexicography. Yet these interests would appear to save his life, as Mao Zedong despised economists – especially those who had been trained or worked in the United States; where ironically enough Zhou Youguang had worked during World War II, and the Sino-Japanese war. But this was not the only strike working against Youguang either, his father was an official during the Qing dynasty (the last Imperial dynasty of China before the communists took control and maintain it). Yet it was a chance meeting and conscription by the Chinese government to re-work the Mandarin language, which changed Youguang’s fate and saved his life from imprisonment. Despite the conscription, Zhou Youguang mainted his work with language and writing was amateur at best; this was sloughed aside as he was told “Everyone is an amateur.” Yet from there Zhou Youguang would become instrumental in the redevelopment of Mandarin and how it is relayed both in script and in verbal capacity. The entire Pinyin system took three years to create.

Despite this marvelous achievement, Zhou Youguang was not immune to political upheavel, specifically speaking The Cultural Revolution. Mao Zedong would define Zhou Youguang as a reactionary academic, and he was sentenced to a labour camp where he would work the rice fields in northern China. He would spend two years in that agricultural hell of re-education, before returning to his home. Upon returning though, it was back to work for Youguang, as he would continue to write; and in his lifetime he would write forty books, and even help oversee the translation of the Encyclopedia Britannica into Mandarin. Despite these monumental accomplishments, many of Zhou Youguang are banned in China, and he remains cultural insignificant officially in China, and has been left unknown and obscure.

Rest in Peace Zhou Youguang.


Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always

Stay Well Read

M. Mary 

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